Yogyakarta, 1 July 2019—The Center for Digital Society of Fisipol UGM recently published a social media research. This research was conducted by Treviliana Eka Putri, M. Fauzi Ananta, Masgustian, and Wava Carissa P., and focused on Instagram and Twitter. This research analysed the popularity of the 34 ministers and focused on aspects such as the number of searches on the name of the ministers, the number of followers and the number of Retweets. This research analysed the personal accounts of the ministers, not the official accounts of their ministries.
This research was conducted by counting the number of engagements measured by the number of Retweets and Likes that each account has obtained. From this method, it can be concluded that the number of followers corresponds with the number engagements. the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Suji Pudjiastuti, is currently the most popular minister on Twitter, followed by the Minister of Religious Affairs Lukman Hakim S. at the second place, the Coordinating Minister of Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Wiranto at the third place, the Minister of Youth and Sports Imam Nahrawi at the fourth place and the Minister of Manpower Hanif Dhakiri at the fifth place. This ranking is based on the number of followers. Uniquely, 48.9% of Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi’s Tweets were written in English. This shows that she has interacted well with foreign followers.
Afterwards, the researchers explain the data that they obtained from Instagram. Again, Susi Pudjiastuti is the most popular minister. Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani is the second most popular minister on Instagram, followed by Imam Nahrawi, Retno Marsudi and Hanif Dhakiri as the third, fourth and fifth most popular ministers respectively.
In terms of gender, this cabinet is quite representative, as 8 out of the 34 ministers or 24% of all ministers are female. Meanwhile, in terms of age, Puan Maharani and Imam Nahrawi are the youngest ministers, with both being 45. Wiranto and Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan are the two oldest ministers, with both being 72 and 71 respectively. The average age in this cabinet is 58.9 years old.
On the question-and-answer session, the researchers explained that this research was aimed to predict the probability of the ministers being reappointed for the next term, by analysing the number of engagements and name popularity. Treviliana Eka Putri stated that a positive image is an important aspect for the ministers who wish to be reappointed. In terms of age, Fauzi Ananta conveyed that appointing young ministers can accelerate the digital revolution process, as they are more familiar with the digital world. Furthermore, young ministers are expected to be more innovative and more eager to cut excessive bureaucracies.